


Binary Stars

by Shes_Rebel_Scum



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Smut, F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force Visions, Forest Sex, Loss of Virginity, My First Smut, She Can Keep a Secret Too, kylo Ren Gets Snarky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-18 03:59:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16110347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shes_Rebel_Scum/pseuds/Shes_Rebel_Scum
Summary: "It took Rey several moments to realize Ben was sitting there, staring at her - that he wasn't an illusion or a manifestation of a daydream. It wasn't another one of their strange projected meetings in the Force, when everything around them fell to silence. The stream still softly burbled, the birds still chirped their chorus in the tall trees. It was really Ben, perched atop the rock that she had thrown her clothes against in a headlong rush to the pool, who watched her with his dark eyes hooded, a smirk pulling at the corners of his full lips.It was then that she remembered she was naked."





	Binary Stars

Binary stars: Two stars that are gravitationally bound to each other; a star system consisting of two celestial bodies orbiting one another without end.

 _"...they will then compose a separate system, and remain united by the bond of their own mutual gravitation towards each other."_  
Sir William Herschel, 1802

 _“The dark is generous and it is patient and it always wins –_  
_but in the heart of its strength lies its weakness:_  
_one lone candle is enough to hold it back._  
_Love is more than a candle._  
_Love can ignite the stars.”_  
Matthew Stover, _Revenge of the Sith_

 

******

 

       The scent of the woods hung heavy in the air around him. Damp mosses, rich soil with its carpet of decaying leaves, tall trees whose branches cast a dappled pattern of sunlight onto the forest floor. He inhaled the heady fragrance deeply, a special scent that brought back memories of a distant, verdant planet. of a quiet, snowy night...

       It had taken Kylo Ren little effort to track her here to this remote moon. She had always been careless with her thoughts, practically shouting them through the ether of space. Her dreams were worse - a flood of projected images, a torrent of feelings and song spilling out into the inexplicable, detestable bond they somehow shared. He couldn't escape her as she burned brightly through her days, hung tremulously in the landscapes of his nights. And he could no longer separate his dreams from hers no matter how many mental blocks he built against her - she pierced through them all at unexpected and unwelcome times. He hated it.

       Yet he didn't.

       Not once in his memory had his mind been truly his own. Since childhood, Snoke had always loomed behind every thought, every memory, whispering doubts and darkness. He had manipulated his dreams into childhood terrors of his parents leaving him alone, abandoned and unwanted, a monster they wanted nothing to do with anymore. He was haunted by nightmares of being unable to find his way home in the dark. Snoke had stoked the fury in his adolescent mind, causing him to lash out in the Force, breaking objects and twisting metal at an angry whim. Once he had even coiled his rage around his father's chest and began to squeeze, the familiar whisper driving him on. But his father had turned and looked at him, apprehension and concern for his son in his eyes. The shame had burned within for a long time after that, and not once had he reached out in anger to another living being again. Not until that fateful night at the Jedi academy, when his uncle had stood over him with his lightsaber burning bright. He had let go then, unleashed all that he had carefully restrained under Luke's guidance. The Force had roared through him like a blistering inferno he was almost helpless to stop. It had wrapped around everything it touched - crushing, burning, bestial in its wrath. When finally the power of the dark had been spent from him like seed, only a few students remained alive, on their knees, bowing low. He had glowed with the last embers of hate, a distant voice softly laughing in his mind, almost purring with pleasure. It did not completely hide his grief, his regret for what he had done, for everything he had done to get to this.

       Now another presence occupied his mind, one that had been there since he had taken the scavenger as prisoner. But she had never tried to manipulate him, to bend his will to hers. There was no pain or despair with her, even when she was experiencing those herself. She beamed with joy in the presence of companions, pulsed with power as she trained in the Force, radiated heat and life like a sun in his galaxy of darkness. Even in her dreams, when her mind was a tangle of images and song (which became his own dreams more often than not), her flood of emotion did not drive him to madness, where the only relief he could find was to strike out, to purge his rage. It was not so with her, who glowed with an energy that was foreign to him, and yet drew him in to that healing light.

       On occasion, she had reached out for him through the mysterious bond. He could feel her slender fingers strumming the thread that connected them, feel her curious mind and her open heart as she searched for his presence, as if she actually desired his company. Not to gain from him, to take from him, to compel him into violence - no. Just to be there with him, to sense his presence and be reassured of his well-being. This was a foreign concept to him, one that he shied away from in distrust. He had  blocked her out, dampened himself in the Force to where she could barely feel him. He cloaked himself in darkness, in stillness and silence to hide from her even as she blazed like a fiery sun for him.

       She was glowing now among the trees on this forest moon, where birds sang and flitted among the leaves. He walked softly, keeping to the shadows, barely causing the leaf detritus around his boots to rustle. Cautiously he walked along the stream that lead to a pool of crystal water in the distance, though his caution was needless. She never bothered to sense the dangers around her, never reached out with the Force to feel the presence of an enemy. He would need to teach her to be more vigilant, more distrustful of her surroundings, less optimistic of positive outcomes. But no, that felt wrong somehow... he found that he liked her foolishness.

       No, she wasn’t foolish.

       She was hopeful.

       With barely a ripple he opened their Force bond and listened for her thoughts as he approached her point of light that softly radiated through the density of trees. For once the cacophony of her thoughts was still. Not in the focus of meditation, where her mind was fully present with the power of the Force. This was a stillness that held peace, wonder, a quiet litany. This was new for her. Her thoughts were usually a raucous jumble that gave him a headache sometimes, when he was unable - unwilling? - to maintain the strength of the wall that separated them. In this moment, she was unguarded. He drew closer on silent feet.

       As his dark form passed from the shadows and into the light, Rey stood submerged to the waist in a large pool of cold, glassy water that occupied a clearing in the woods. She quietly hummed to herself, not quite aware she was doing so, as she watched her hands slowly move under the water's mirrored surface. She had never seen such a pool of water before - crystal clear and reflecting the dappled light of the sun that filtered through the canopy overhead. Tiny fish darted around her, guardedly drawing closer as they became used to her presence in their world. She was enamored of their tiny bodies, shimmering silver as their bright red fins waved in the water. Slowly, so as not to startle them, she brought a cupped hand to her mouth to taste the chilly liquid. It was clean and cold, refreshing as nothing she had experienced before.

       The sudden chill had taken her breath away when she first removed her boots and slipped her toes into the sparkling stream that fed the pool, but she found that she loved the feeling. Stripping off her clothes and tossing them carelessly against a lichen-spotted boulder that rested in the mud near the edge of the shore, she had continued to move into the water despite the flash of goosebumps that prickled her entire body. It was exactly unlike the brutal heat of the Jakku desert, so stifling that it was almost impossible to breathe. The neon bite of the water had made her gasp in a bright, sudden shock, clearing her mind of all its tumult, and she had felt more present in the here and now than she had ever been. The gentle sound of the stream, the closeness of the trees with their chittering birds, the school of silvery fish that chased each other around her bare thighs... she had heard people speak of paradise, now and then. She felt as if she may have found it here.

       In her still reverence, she hadn't noticed Ren as he stepped from behind the boulder and froze, gazing at her. She stood in the pool fully nude, her back to him, the water gently rippling away from her slender frame. His eyes trailed down her body, following the line of her shoulders down to her back, along the gentle curve of her waist to the swell of her hips, her round buttocks that sloped to curving thighs, down to lean calves and impossibly thin ankles, the image softly distorted here and there as the water rippled gently outward. She stood almost as still as the rock on which he now leaned, a school of fish playing around her center. Her skin was a warm, golden tan that seemed luminous under the water's surface. Her shoulders were dotted with a scattering of freckles. He hadn't noticed his pulse quicken at the sight of her until now as it began to slow to its regular pace. Impatiently, he dismissed a pang of longing.

       She wouldn't be coming out of her reverie anytime soon, he decided. Neither would she be in easy reach of her clothing - he noticed her boots had been left by the stream, her clothes in a pile at the foot of the rock on which he leaned. Effortlessly, he scaled the lichen-spotted boulder and sat cross-legged at its apex, appreciating the sight before him. She was humming softly to herself, a few notes of which he thought he recognized from the dreams that she practically blared at him through the night. He watched her for a few minutes, breathing lightly so as not to disturb her at a rare moment of quiet contemplation. Normally, she approached everything at a headlong rush, a brute force and passionate energy that betrayed her status as a novice. She had no one to teach her stealth, how a light hand adept in the Force would open a new spectrum of possibilities as she matured into her full range of power. He had offered to teach her, to show her how to wield this new ability she had tapped into. She was strong, possibly as strong as he was, and he knew keenly the feeling that came from the lack of guidance, how others would look with fear and resentment as the power flowed out of control. He didn't wish that for her. He didn't wish that for anybody.

       He straightened a leg, allowing the heavy heel of his boot to scrape the rock beneath him.

       With a cry, she whirled toward the unexpected sound. Her wide eyes clapped to his as he sat calmly. He noticed that, in her surprise at not being alone, her hands had splayed out under the surface of the water. She had not thought to cover her nakedness, and her small breasts were on full display to him, her rosy pink nipples firm and pebbled by the chill of the water, her lean, smooth torso sloping to a downy thatch of hair between her thighs. The sight of her warmed him. Considerably.

       It took Rey several moments to realize Ben was sitting there, staring at her - that he wasn't an illusion or a manifestation of a daydream. It wasn't another one of their strange projected meetings in the Force, when everything around them fell to silence. The stream still softly burbled, the birds still chirped their chorus in the tall trees. It was really Ben, perched atop the rock that she had thrown her clothes against, who watched her with his dark eyes hooded, a smirk pulling at the corners of his full lips.

       It was then that she remembered she was naked.

       She wrapped her arms around her breasts with a huff, then darted one hand down to cover her sex. No one had ever seen her nude before, and she felt her cheeks grow hot in her discomposure.

       "What are you doing here?" she snarled.

       Ren bit the inside of his lips to keep from smiling at her chagrin. Ignoring her question, he continued to watch her for a long, silent moment.

       "I didn't know desert rats could swim."

       With a roar of frustration, she slapped the surface of the water with a flat palm, causing icy water to splash her exposed breasts. She gasped a little at the sudden chill, trying not to listen to Ben's soft chuckle. The tiny fish had long since darted away, no doubt to find more pleasant company in the depths of their crystalline pool.

       "I asked you what you're doing here!" she almost screamed.

       "I followed you," he replied smoothly.

       She bared her teeth in a growl. He had avoided her question. Why would he follow her to this remote moon? What could he possibly want with her now, after months of total silence between them? She had reached out for him numerous times, wanting to see his face, to feel his solid presence even after their last meeting on Crait. But he had tried to block her out, almost in the same way she had done to him when he had first probed her mind, searching for the map that lead to Ahch-To. But he hadn't managed to completely close her out - she could still feel his life force, the weight of his dark presence from afar, see the occasional flicker of an image from his dreams as he fitfully slept. But still, he had tried to shut her out completely, to hide himself away from her, to deny the pull. And that had hurt more than she cared to admit or understand.

       "Do you mind?" she asked stiffly, jerking her chin toward the pile of her clothing that sat at the base of the stone he presently occupied.

       He motioned his hand in her general direction. "Be my guest," he said in that smooth, smug tone.

       By now Rey was fuming. "Just... close your eyes or turn around or something! I want to get dressed." She was having difficulty keeping herself from yelling.

       Ben watched her for a moment more, then turned his head to the side, looking at the trees in the distance. She wondered if he could still see her out of the corner of his eye as she stomped out of the water towards her clothing, still doing her best to conceal herself with her hands. It was awkward trying to tug on her clothes over wet skin. It kept bunching and tangling as she pulled, and she had nearly lost her balance and fell backwards into the muddy bank. But she maintained her footing, hands shaking with fury if not from the temperature of the water. She risked a glance up at him to see if he had been watching. But he remained true to his word as he always had with her, his head turned to expose the sharp profile of his angular face. Despite herself, she admired the line of his strong jaw, his straight nose, the slope of his brow, his artfully tousled midnight hair... she shook herself from the thought.

       "Are you finished?" he asked, keeping his face turned away from her. She had been fumbling at the straps and buckles of her holster, fingers still numb from the water's chill.

       "Mostly," she muttered as she continued to struggle with the belt. Ren slipped down from the rock and landed on quiet feet. He stepped near to her and began to fasten the buckle at her waist. He could feel her shivering slightly, not entirely from the cold.

       Rey looked up at him as he took mercy on her numbed fingers. With satisfaction she imagined herself shoving him into the frigid water, watching him flail helplessly in the deep as she triumphantly crowed, "I didn't know rats could swim!"

       He chuckled darkly as he adjusted her belt. "I can swim."

       "Get out of my head!" she snapped.

       He continued to smirk as he looped the last strap into its buckle. "I don't have to be in your head, you practically shout every thought you have. You're all I can hear sometimes."

       When he had finished, he did not move away from her. Their gazes locked for a quiet moment. His ink dark hair had fallen over one eye, a slight smirk still quirking at the side of his mouth. She could feel the heat radiating from his body, smell his clean, masculine scent. It made her think of soap and supple leather, of dark, still waters under a moonless sky, of black orchids she had once seen in the market at Niima Outpost, a luxurious prize that only the very wealthy could afford to keep on a desert planet.

       "Thank you," she murmured, a little stiffly. He said nothing in reply but continued to look deeply into her eyes. The smirk had relaxed from his mouth, but the intensity of his heavy-lidded gaze had not.

       "Why did you follow me here?" she asked, a little dismayed at the tremor in her voice.

       Again he avoided her question. "I anticipated that you would come here, to scout for a new Resistance base. This moon is attuned to the Force. I've been here before, with Skywalker. He was always searching for more useless Jedi relics. There was nothing here, another of the wastes of time that comprised my training."

       Rey was slightly moved by his bitter tone, but it was eclipsed by the revelation that he had known she would be here and knew what she would be looking for.

       _Relax. This is none of the First Order's concern._

       She blinked up at him in surprise. This was the first time she had heard him clearly through the Force since her last night on Ahch-to, when he had been there for her in a moment of sorrow, when they had first touched hands.

       "Of course it's First Order business, _Supreme Leader!_ And why have you been shutting me out all this time? Why are you letting me in now?" she ripped at him in sudden frustration. "You let me in only when it's convenient for _you_ , when _you're_ interested in my business! But you wall yourself off from me as if I don't exist, as if you don't care! And now you follow me here and you won't tell me why!"

       His gaze became stony as he looked at her, unmoving. She would not be intimidated, nor would she allow herself to be toyed with.

       "It's not First Order business because I say it's not First Order business," Ren said in a hard, cool tone. "I shut you out because I meant what I said, you're all I can hear." He stepped closer to her, forcing her to tilt her head back as far as she could. "You're all I can think about sometimes, I can't sleep because of you. For once in my life, it might be nice to have my thoughts to myself, no one else occupying my head but me. But you're always here," he hissed, pointing to his temple. "Even when I try to block you out I can still feel you somehow. I hoped that if I pulled away, you'd take the hint and leave. But you don't! You keep reaching out to me, keep pouring out your dreams and your feelings into this... this connection, and it won't stop, Rey! _You won't stop!_ "

       Ren was practically shouting at her now, almost losing control over his emotions. He watched as her eyes had filled with tears as he spoke, a hard look coming over her beautiful face. It stung to know he was hurting her, but it had to be said. She had to know the wreck she had made of him. She had to know the danger she was in. If her heart ached as he could feel it now, the better it was for her, in the end.

       "Why?" she asked, her voice choked. "Why do you want this connection to stop? I can feel your conflict, Ben. I can feel how lonely you are, how lonely you've always been. You use solitude as a shield, even though it tears you apart. You hide behind your walls of isolation, but you don't have to! I'm asking you, Ben!" She was sobbing now, tears running down her face. "Please!"

       He stood very close to her still, towering over her. She refused to back away, to give him any ground. Her emotions were roiling - anger, frustration, bitterness, longing, sadness, hope. She deliberately sent these through the Force bond, projected them with passion, felt them as they rippled and hit home.

       But Ben did not react. His icy mask stayed firmly in place as he continued to look down at her through narrowed eyes.

       _Do you want to know why I keep you away?_

       Tentatively, she nodded.

       He lifted a hand to her face, softly brushing her hair away from her brow. With more tenderness than she had ever known, he traced his fingertips from her brow to her temple and stopped there. She could feel the warmth of his skin against hers.

       Then, images began to flood her mind...

_Ben as a baby, suspending toys in front of his face without touching them as he sat in his mother's lap._

_Ben as a toddler, running towards Han on tiny legs, holding a pair of golden dice in his sticky hands._

_Ben, hiccupping in his father's arms, the nightmare still fresh in his mind as Han strokes his hair._

_Little Ben with dark circles under his eyes, afraid to sleep, to see the hideous face towering over him once more._

_Young Ben with his fists in his hair, shaking his head violently as items fall off the shelves and shatter on the floor in the next room._

_Young Ben, pale faced, trying to block out the voice that whispers to him again._

_Ben, sitting in his dark room with his knees drawn up to his chin, trying not to listen as his parents argue about what to do with the monster that is their son._

_A teenaged Ben, thin-faced and seething with fury, reaching out with the Force to crush Han's heart._

_Ben crying into a pillow, burning with shame for almost killing his father, trying to muffle the sound of laughter in his mind._

_Ben, with a small bag slung over his shoulder, walking beside his uncle, away from the only home he has ever known, struggling to choke back the tears, struggling to not look back at his parents as he strides away._

_Ben, tall and lanky, standing awkwardly beside the other students in the academy as they glance at him and whisper to each other behind their hands._

_Ben, striding along a path behind his master, brimming with impatience at yet another journey to find irrelevant things._

 

       The images began to come faster now, urgent with the telling.

 

 _Ben, sitting cross-legged in his hut, eyes closed, mind focused in communion with a dark malevolence that speaks from the unknown regions of space._  
_Ben, standing alone in the shadows, watching his former master in the distance._  
_Ren, spewing darkness like a pillar of fire, catching the retreating students in his rage and hatred as the temple before him burns._  
_Ren, radiating power, lifting a helmet of black and chrome over his head._  
_Ren, cloaked in darkness, holding a lightsaber that crackles and sparks with red fury like his soul._  
_Ren, standing tall and imposing above a kneeling few, all dressed in black with helmets like his own._  
_Ren, ripping his lightsaber from his father's chest, watching as his body falls into a cavernous abyss..._

 

       Rey had no idea when she had sunk to her knees in the muddy bank of the lake. Thoughts of darkness, of fear and despair, of rage and loneliness hung low in her mind like heavy storm clouds, her unseeing eyes blinded by tears.

       Ren knelt silently, patiently beside her, watched her tears as they fell.

       _Now do you see? Do you understand why I keep you away? I hurt everyone who dares get near me. It will end for you in the same way._

       There was no response from her. He didn't expect one.

       Gently, he pulled her against his chest, lifting her easily out of the mud. He strode up the bank to a lush patch of grass, no canopy of branches overhead to filter out the brilliant sunlight. Her arms were tightly wrapped around his neck, face buried in his chest. Instead of pulling her free from him, he sat down on the soft thicket of green, settling her in his lap. He listened to her thoughts as they tumbled, crashing like waves against the sand. Underneath it all, she was chanting.

       _It was Snoke. It was Snoke. It was Snoke._

       No. She did not understand. Snoke had been the influence, but Ren had made the choice. It was he who had lashed out in flames of fury, he who had succumbed to the power of the dark, he who had earned the name Jedi Killer. He had caused everyone in his life to suffer. He would not cause Rey to endure it, too.

       He felt her stir a little in his arms - when had he wrapped them around her so tightly? - in reaction to his thoughts.

       _You fought back the dark for so long, withstood Snoke's exploitation of your power, rebelled against your master to set me free..._

       She was considering these things as if they were deeds of heroism, and not the acts of a terrified child, a desperate man. He could not make her understand, this woman who blazed with power though the Force, whose pull he could not escape, no matter how hard he tried to keep her away from his darkness. He sighed heavily and gazed at the pool, watching as a tiny rodent-like creature hopped out of the tree line to drink at the shore, cautiously twitching its antennae and bristling its slate blue fur.

       Rey could feel a sorrowful resignation coming from Ben. She slipped an arm from around his neck and placed her palm over his heart.

       "There's light in you here," she whispered to his collarbone. "I know it, even if you don't."

       The heat of her breath along his neck caused a stirring warmth in him.

       She could sense the beginnings of arousal emanating from him at the caress of her words, how he bent his head towards her own, tightening his arms around her slightly. Hesitantly, taken aback by her own nervous daring, she ran her right hand down his chest, fingers trailing down the black fabric of his tunic to play at its hem. Her fingertips softly brushed his flesh, and his muscles tensed at the feel of her cool fingers on his warm skin. A small breath escaped from his lips.

       "There's nothing redeemable about me," he whispered hoarsely. "I've hurt everyone I cared about, everyone I thought I loved. You're the last person I... not you, never you." He swallowed at the lump in his throat. "I don't know what I would do without... I couldn't..." He trailed off and buried his nose in her hair, remembering the hollow sound of the Millennium Falcon's door as it shut him out.

       Her hand continued to play at his hemline, to softly brush the smooth skin underneath. She slipped her entire hand under his tunic and stroked the hard lines of his abdomen, brushed the backs of her fingers along his side, felt the raised, rough skin where he had been pierced though with a bolt from a bowcaster. She felt his breathing deepen.

       "You forgot who you're dealing with," she murmured into the hollow of his throat. "I'm a scavenger, a salvager of broken things." She lightly pressed a kiss to the softness of his skin, emboldened by his reactions to her touch. "I see you for who you are, Ben. Not the creature that Snoke desired. Not the monster you think you are. Not the Jedi that Luke tried to make of you." She kissed his neck again, this time more firmly, curling the fingers of her left hand into the hair at the back of his neck. He shivered at the sensation, almost moaning. "I see you Ben, I know who you are." She reached up with her mouth and kissed his jawline. "I know who you are in the Force, who you are to _me_. I've seen what you are meant to become. And I'm patient, Ben. I'll wait for you. As long as it takes, I'll wait for you."

     He turned toward her mouth and paused, lips hovering a hair's breadth away from hers. He was seeking permission, she understood, a silent supplication. Closing her eyes, she leaned in to lightly touch her mouth to his. She was unsurprised to find how warm and soft his lips felt against her own, how right the sensation was. He kissed her more firmly now, drawing her body closer against his own. She hadn't realized she was holding her breath, curling the fingers of her right hand so that her nails were pressed in to the flesh at his side. He groaned almost imperceptibly at that, and opened his mouth under hers. The tip of his tongue brushed against hers, lightly at first, hesitating. She copied his movement slowly, keenly aware that this was the first time she had ever kissed anyone before; she hoped she was doing it right. As if in response, a gesture of reassurance to sweep away her fears, he slid his hand up her arm to cradle the back of her head, gently drawing her into him as he deepened the kiss almost desperately.

       Rey was dizzy, swept up in the feeling of Ben, his arms wrapped around her, his presence burning like a dark fire that smoldered within her. She would not deny the pull he had on her, how deeply she was attracted to his broad frame that towered over her own, his dark beauty, the heat in his eyes when they burned into hers. The strength he wielded in the Force, from which her own powers had awakened. The masculine scent of him, his duality of tenderness and ferocity, his intimate knowledge of what it was like to grow up discarded, alone, a creature of unwilling solitude, like herself.

       Without breaking the kiss, Rey balanced one knee in the soft grass and slid her leg over his hips, straddling him. Her right hand, still pressed against his side, slid up and around the hard line of his waist. The movement caused his tunic to slide up along his torso, to expose his pale skin to her as the garment gathered over his abdomen. She ran her fingernails down his back and he shivered, groaning deep in his throat. His hands were pressed to the small of her back, holding her firmly in place. They wandered lower, following the curve of her round bottom. The heat of his exposed skin radiated though her still-damp clothing. With both hands, she gripped the hem of his tunic, slipped it up and over his head, and paused at the sight of him before slowly dropping it.

       His body was lined with scars from his chest all the way down to his belt line. Pale, puckered rends, deep slashes of ragged crimson, shallow stripes that crossed his flank. A thin line at his chest that streaked up to cross his collarbone, deepening along his neck and jaw to bisect his cheek, ending in a faint line at his brow. Slowly she raised her hand and drifted her thumbnail lightly along the slash on his brow and followed it down his cheek. Rey pressed her thumb firmly to his jaw, at the line she had drawn there with a lightsaber on a snow-quiet night. She lifted his chin, forcing his head back, his dark eyes searing into hers.

       “You're mine,” she whispered fiercely, holding his face captive for a long moment before bending to claim his mouth once more. His fingertips dug into her flesh as he pressed her hips against his own, and she could feel how firm he had become. His mouth was greedy for hers, his tongue more insistent. Her shaking hands dropped to her holster, fumbling once again at its impossible buckle. She broke their kiss with a soft curse and he smiled up at her. Her hands stilled as she gazed at his lopsided, genuine smile, at the crinkles that played at the corners of his warm eyes.

       It was the first time she had ever seen him truly smile; the years fell away from his lean face. It made her feel as if she were melting.

       He moved his hand to unfasten her belt and almost laughed when he noticed his own fingers trembling. In a fluid motion he had pulled the leather from the clasp and tugged the belt free from around her waist. She eyed him with an arched brow, and he leaned in to nuzzle her neck, hiding another grin as he wrapped his arms around her. Rey's hands, a little more steady now, moved to his temples and slid through his soft, dark hair. It ran like silk between her fingers, and he closed his eyes at the feeling. He inhaled deeply of her, caught the hints of sweet, golden amber, of bright flowers under a warm summer sun, of gentle breezes that rippled through tall grass. He hooked a finger at the neckline of her garment and moved the fabric away, pressing a soft, lingering kiss into her warming skin. He continued to push the slightly damp fabric aside, exposing the freckles along her collarbone and the top of her breast as her tunic slid off one shoulder. She moved her arms out of the sleeves and the fabric fell away to pool on the grass behind her, leaving her skin exposed to his heated gaze once more.

       He chewed on the inside of his lips as he took in the sight of her firm, small breasts, her dusky nipples, the graceful slope of her ribs leading down to the golden plane of her stomach, the swell of her hips where her legs were parted and wrapped around him. He could feel the warmth of her center, pressed against his stiffened length. He slid his hands to her slender waist and pressed his fingertips lightly into her ribs for a moment, feeling them move under her smooth skin as she breathed. She seemed to glow softly under the bright sun.

       With her fingers tangled in his hair and her forearms resting on his broad shoulders, Rey closed her eyes and let her head fall to the side. She breathed deeply, feeling the steady heat of his palms along her sides. She arched her back slightly, inviting him to slide his hands further up her body.

       Ben did not disappoint. Her lips parted as his fingers traveled upwards, caressing the sensitive tips of her breasts. Her breath caught in her throat as his warm mouth covered a nipple, traced it with his tongue, pressed his teeth gently but firmly into her pebbled flesh. Her fingers twined tightly in his dark locks and she pulled him close, pressing her chin to his temple. She exhaled a small sigh of pleasure as his full lips brushed softly along her wet skin, his large hand cupping her breast, fingers tracing a circle around the rosy pink tip. His mouth moved to her collarbone, up to the base of her neck, pressing kisses into the indentation of her throat. She shivered slightly and pressed herself against the heat of his firm chest. He circled his arms around her and lay back into the emerald sea behind him, pulling her on top of him as her mouth sought his. He trailed his palms down the elegant line of her back, pressed her hips against his own once more, and she broke their kiss to arch her back, to hold him against her center more firmly. His fingertips slipped under the waistline of her pants as she gazed down at him, lightly tracing a fingertip along his bottom lip.

       _Ben, you're beautiful._

       There was no answer from Ren as he kissed her finger. He was lost in a churning tide of conflicting emotions - affection, trust, peace, apprehension, desire, fear. Her hazel eyes searched his face, and he saw again their jewel flecks of green and gold. He laid his palm against her cheek to hold her still, content to simply look at her. Of course her mind was a jumble; she blazed even now in this quiet patch of sunlit calm. What could he say to this girl, this woman who gave him no rest, who flared in the Light and burned past his defenses, who pulled him in with boundless radiance like the inescapable gravity of a luminous star? He had followed her here to this remote forest moon to be in her presence one more time - to perhaps hold her, to kiss her, to tell her that he was caught up in her and had no desire to be free, that he was inexorably, unapologetically drawn to her. She was his balance and his belonging, even as he held her at a distance for fear of destroying her as he did everything else.

       In a fluid movement, she skimmed her pants down past the swell of her hips as his hands slid down her freckled shoulders and along her waist. Sitting up, he helped her pull her legs free, then lifted her nude form onto his lap once more. She sought his mouth with her own, slipped her slender fingers though the silk of his hair and pulled him closer, tightening her legs around his hips. Her fingertips traced his lean face, down along the line of his scar, brushed the hard span of his chest, trailed along his ribs, and closed on his belt line. With a deep breath she released the clasps and reached between them. The air caught in his throat at the sensation of her fingers closing around his girth, lifting him free from his clothing. She shifted forward to carefully position him at the point of her desire.

       _Rey..._

       His hands drifted to her hips and held her for a moment. She bent to touch her forehead to his, to find his mouth and kiss him deeply. Slowly, slowly, she leaned her weight and pushed the soft tip of his manhood carefully inside. It caused a deep ache, momentarily hot and sharp. She trembled in his arms, letting the pain recede bit by bit before continuing down along his length until he was cradled within her. He dragged his mouth from hers, ran his tongue along her jaw, pressed his lips to the curve of her ear. “You're mine,” he whispered raggedly, and she shuttered at the caress of his breath.

       She raised herself up, the motion becoming a little easier as her body grew accustomed to the feeling of him inside. His fingers gripped her hips tightly as she slid back down with a soft sigh. He pulled her to him, burying himself to the hilt and held her there as his mouth brushed along the line of her collarbone. She rocked her hips gently, bringing a groan from low in his throat. The sensation deepened within her, caused her to slide her eyes shut at the beginnings of a light pulse. His hands trailed to her lower back and nudged her down, wanting more of her slick heat. She whimpered at the feel of fullness he caused within her, his tongue tracing a slow line up the slender column of her throat. Her arms threaded around his neck as she continued to rock her hips, guided by his hands at her back. Her breath came faster, the air laced with the scent of leather and midnight. The pulse was beginning to build inside her, slowly growing in its intensity as she moved along his hardness. He trailed his mouth along her jaw to the sensitive spot under her ear and she tightened around him reflexively. His exhale was a heavy moan, and she arched her back at his warm breath against her tender skin. Slipping her hands to his scarred chest, she pushed gently until he leaned back on his hands, and he watched her graceful frame as she continued to rock her hips in a slow rhythm.

       Rey let her head fall back along her spine, the exquisite tension building, a shiver deep in her core. She could feel the mounting tension in him as well, sending ripples shimmering between them along the silvery thread of the bond that drew them together, that caused them to swing in each other's orbit. She murmured his name to the sunlight like a prayer, and his hips rose to meet hers in time. Lifting her head toward him, she saw his lower lip caught between his teeth, his eyes heavy-lidded in his desire. With a low groan he laid back into the dense green and bucked his hips as she rode him with increasing ardor. A soft cry escaped her lips, the shiver within her building. Vaguely, she wondered how much longer she could bare the intensity. He matched her movements stroke for stroke now, a rumbling growl emanating deep in his chest as she clenched tightly around him.

       His hands trailed lightly along her flanks, causing goosebumps to texture her coppery skin. She was captivating to him – the way she moved her body, the way she sighed his name, the way she unconsciously pulled him in with the gravity of her presence in his heart and mind. He could no longer deny her, shut her out, ignore the way she shone for him like a brilliant star in his night skies. He gave himself up to her with a heavy breath as if she were a goddess worthy of his worship. Gripping her thighs tightly, he held her close and pushed deeply into her, marveling at the feel of her passion. He felt as if he could drown in her depths and still crave more of her.

       The mounting tension broke over Rey in a bright cresting wave, causing her to gasp and cry out as the throbbing release drove her to arch her spine and tremble at the rush. Ben continued to thrust into her, feeling her pulsing orgasm echo in a rhythm. His breathing was ragged, uneven, body coiled tightly under hers as she continued to move along his length. He grit his teeth, the tension becoming unbearable under her writhing movements. One hand streaked to her hip and locked like a vice, and with a shuddering breath, he shattered into her. She felt him grow rigid beneath her, inside of her, heat spreading like fire within as he panted her name in a choked, heavy snarl. Her mind a foggy haze, she continued to rock her hips, drawing every bit of the releasing tension from him as he yanked her close, burying himself, lost.

       Surrendering, he allowed himself to fall back into the lush grass as she ran trembling fingers along the hard plane of his chest, passing a palm over his thundering heart. He slid his fingers up the length of her bare thighs and she bent to kiss him, still quivering at the minute ripples his movements caused within her. Finally spent, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest, his breath slowly becoming more even. She curled her arms between them, tucked her hand under her chin and relaxed against him with a tremulous sigh. He found her weight inexplicably comforting, reassuring, tangible. With a soft breath, he closed his eyes and drifted...

**

       Ben came awake slowly to the sounds of the forest alive under an indigo sky. A steady hum of incandescent beetles, the faint melody of night birds hidden in their distant branches, a rhythmic buzz that rasped close to his ear. It took him a moment to realize that it was Rey, softly snoring, her head resting comfortably on his shoulder as she slept. He laid in the soft bed of grass for a long while, feeling a sense of peace and stillness, a calm like she had felt as she stood, breathtaking and beautiful, in the shimmering pool of water.

       He watched the stars as they slowly traversed their celestial path. Two in particular caught his attention, glowing diamond bright as they steadily drifted closer to each other, drawn together, unable to resist the force that connected them no matter how often they swung away again. As the Force was pulling he and Rey together now, irresistible.

       He knew he had to return to the First Order. He'd been gone too long already, though he had no desire to leave this place that was made all the more beautiful by Rey. He gently kissed her forehead, and the movement caused her eyes to flutter open. With a yawn and a stretch of long limbs, she sat up and brushed bits of grass from her side. Ben propped himself up on an elbow to watch her gestures of unconscious grace.

       “I need to get back,” he said in a quiet voice. She nodded and stood up, then reached a calloused hand down to him and helped pull him to his feet. As he stood, he caught her to his chest and wrapped her in his arms. She traced her fingers down his solid frame, flicking away the errant blades of grass that clung to his pale skin. He pressed his palms to her cheeks, kissed her forehead, tipped her face toward his own and kissed her beautiful mouth, relishing the taste of her. She had been such an insistent presence in his mind, a beacon of light that seared though the lonely dark. He was helpless to resist her pull, not when she shone with such brilliance that to look away from her was impossible. He knew that now, had known it from the first. He had offered her the galaxy once, a place by his side. He was confident she would take it, would balance the pull they had upon one another like binary stars. The Force was at work here, she would come to see it soon. And he would be there when she did.

**

       Rey sat at the console of her transport, watching as Ben's shuttle streaked away into the starry night. She readjusted her holster and grimly punched in the coordinates to the new Rebel base, which was already near to completion on a distant planet in an uncharted territory of space. It had been carefully chosen, thoroughly investigated to make sure neither the last vestiges of the Empire's remaining data nor the First Order's far-reaching network had any knowledge that this remote world existed. The Rebellion was rebuilding, a testament to General Organa's tenacity and fortitude, her commitment to freedom and autonomy for every being capable of thinking for itself, desirous of throwing off the yoke of oppression for the sake of liberty.

       Rey had always been a quick study; she had learned from Ren himself how to access the Force within her. And she had been learning still, even through his silence, how to erect walls around the parts of her mind that she did not want him to see. And they had held firmly in place this night, even as she found it impossible to deny the pull, had willingly, even gladly surrendered to the power of the bond that existed between them. But it was time to swing away, for the Rebellion was being rebuilt under his nose, and it would someday soon be strong enough to challenge the First Order once again. And she would be there, fighting alongside them when they did.

**Author's Note:**

> My deepest gratitude goes to the Reylo Anthology mods who helped put this collection together, who decluttered my multitude of ideas and were generous with encouragements and constructive guidance. To Jake for his masculine perspective. To Val, my best beta reader. To Ted for keeping faithful watch. And to you, the reader.


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